Neuropsychology Central

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Okay so I'm new here.

I'm going to try to give my story (going to be long), to minimize any further questions (I'll list the main questions below for those not interested in the story, scroll way down), and hopefully explain my situation, so I can get better informed answers.

Start of story
I'm currently studying at the University of Manitoba (in Canada). I will be graduating this year (my 4th year) with a 3-year general science degree (yes yes, 3-year program into 4 years, I need to work for a living so a full course load would really start to hurt and I don't feel like taking on student loans just yet). I intend to start a second degree program next year and hope to obtain a Bsc (Hons) in Psychology in 2-3 years. During that time I will also be writing the Mcat, and trying to apply for medical school.

There are various things that make me uncertain about applying to medical school:

1) My GPA, it's not horrible, but it's not awesome either, I really screwed up BAD the first 2.5 years of school, because working near full time hours + attempting a nearly full course load, doesn't really help (yes I know it was stupid, I’m paying for my mistakes right now). However I've reduced my hours at work, and slightly cut back my course load, started taking summer courses, and I've been getting A's ever since. If this trend follows, by the end of next year my GPA will be good enough to apply to medical school (since Mcat + interview make up 90% of the marking, GPA isn't super important)

2) I haven't written the mcat yet, so I'm not sure what to expect (except for something that will probably hurt.

3) It’s almost impossible for me to apply to a medical school outside of the province, since there are always almost a 0% acceptance rate for out of province students. And I don’t think I can apply for loans large enough, to study in the USA at this current time.

4) Although I know it isn’t true, but there are a lot of negative connotations about MDs and over prescribing and relying too much on drugs (which is something I’m strongly against), and forgetting other factors (such as the body’s ability to heal it self, and the environment of the person)

If I do get into medical school, I’d like to go General Surgery, or maybe psychiatry (if there are any fellowships that are more specialized than just general psychiatry)

So I’ve been desperately trying to find something that I could enjoy doing as well, if I don’t get into medical school. I never really had a back up plan, but looking at my situation I think it’s best that I do, or something else I could really get interested into, and just forget about medical school all together.

Basically I've been looking a career that will allow me to help and aid people in a clinical setting with some aspect of their health, using the latest scientific methods and techniques to help them.

Now, to be perfectly honest with you, I never really thought psychologists were all that impressive, that is I was very ignorant, and didn’t know what they did, I just thought they talked to people about problems, and provided counseling, or just stayed in labs performing experiments. My girlfriend is currently doing psychology, and she opened my mind to the wonders of the specialties in psychology. Another thing that really intrigued me about psychology (mainly clinical) is it’s like the underdog of the health spectrum, you never hear about clinical psychologists, it’s always the psychiatrist that saves the day, and I thought it would be nice to try and educate the public more about what psychologists can really do.

Then I thought about it, did some research, and decided clinical psychology is quite interesting, and unlike the other psychological disciplines it deals with people in a clinical setting (correct me if I’m wrong about this). However, the more I thought about it, just being a normal clinical psychologist wouldn’t be enough, because (to my knowledge) psychiatrists can do what a clinical psychologist can do, and prescribe medications if needed (correct me if I’m wrong)

So I did more research, and read, and read, and read, and read. I read up on Clinical Neuropsychology, and it really interested me, because it deals with things I’m quite interested in, trauma victims, and upper level brain functions. As well it looks at the brain from a very psychological point of view. The brain, I think, is amazing, we know so little about it, and I’d like to learn a lot more about it, and how it functions and works.

And it just occurred to me, I have no idea where to start, or where to find out more information about Clinical Neruropsychology (from people) then I found this forum.

*Phew*
End of story

So my main questions are: (my girlfriend is also very intrested in clinical neuropsychology)

1) The U of Manitoba is an apa/cpa accredited program for clinical psychology (one of a few in Canada). I know it’s important to go to a school with clinical neuropsychology focus for your PhD (like Victoria and Windsor in Canada), but how important is it for your MA? Does the school you choose make a huge difference in the PhD program you get into? If so, why?

2) What is the exact line of work that Neuropsychologists do, what kind of problems do you work on, who do you work with, what kind of environment is it, hours? How much do you enjoy working as a Clinical Neuropsychologist?

3) Are there any special things I should be doing during my honors/master program to help me get a better background in neuropsychology?

4) What other areas of Psychology deal with patients (instead of ‘clients’) in a clinical setting (be it a private practice, or in a hospital, or a center)

5) What are the differences between Clinical Psychologists (or psychologists (with PhD/psyD) in general) and Psychiatrists? Other than the fact one has MD other has PhD/PsyD, and one can prescribe drugs (properly).

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no one can help me? :p

[Paendrag]

"1) The U of Manitoba is an apa/cpa accredited program for clinical psychology (one of a few in Canada). I know it’s important to go to a school with clinical neuropsychology focus for your PhD (like Victoria and Windsor in Canada), but how important is it for your MA? Does the school you choose make a huge difference in the PhD program you get into? If so, why? "

You don't need to go to a neuropsychology program. You need to go to a clinical psychology program with the opportunity to have a neuropsychologist mentor, do neuropsychology practica, and do neuroscience research.

You should consider applying to Ph.D. programs not terminal MA programs.


"2) What is the exact line of work that Neuropsychologists do, what kind of problems do you work on, who do you work with, what kind of environment is it, hours? How much do you enjoy working as a Clinical Neuropsychologist? "

There is alot of variability, too much to go into much detail on.

Possible work environments

1. Academic
2. Academic/medical school
3. Hospital
4. Private practice
5. Military/VA

Populations.

- Adult
- Geriatric
- Pediatric

You can specialize in specific types of problems (e.g., Traumatic Brain Injury, Stroke, Epilepsy, Autism, etc. . .).

Clinically, a neuropsychologist assesses cognitive and behavioral presentation as it relates to disease/insult impact on functional neural networks.

"3) Are there any special things I should be doing during my honors/master program to help me get a better background in neuropsychology? "

Do a thesis. Take all the bio-oriented psychology classes you can. Take biology classes that focus on the brain. If you can take a neuroanatomy class.

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Don't you normally need a MA before applying for a PhD? or can you go from honours (with thesis) to PhD? (those seem to be the requirements here) unless if you mean something else... like the MA being the last degree...nono I'm going on to a PhD program forsure if I go down the road of neuropsychology. However I Was wondering how important is it to get into a clincical neuropsychology MA program in the chances you'll get accepted into a phd program? reading through at the university of Victoria, it seems better to go through the MA through them, then hit a PhD...(with the way they word their entrance requirements)

I don't know if the university here has a mentor for clinical neuropsychology. But there are alot of courses here that have biology with a psychological focus.

In terms of private practice/hospital work would it be possible to go into details about that? I'd like to try to avoid working in schools, as I've had almost enough school, and I'm sure I'll need to keep learning new things (as with most other professionals do)

Paendrag: If you are a clinical neuropsychologist (which I assume you are, because I'm recieving help from you) what do you do, how enjoyable is it? How are the stress levels (I already work at a very stressful part time job during school, and if I go into surgery I'm sure that's not stress free either I think I'm prepared for stress)

If you do a subspecality, are you just stuck in treating that one subspecality, or are you able to do things other 'general' clinical neuropsychologists can do?

Anylinks on where I can read up more on the subspecalities (other than the ones on this site?)

Thanks alot

[Paendrag]

"Don't you normally need a MA before applying for a PhD? "

In the US, no you don't. Most PhD programs accept people with bachelors degrees. You would get an MS on the way towards completion of the PhD.


"However I Was wondering how important is it to get into a clincical neuropsychology MA program in the chances you'll get accepted into a phd program?" Not important in the US.

"Paendrag: If you are a clinical neuropsychologist (which I assume you are, because I'm recieving help from you) what do you do, how enjoyable is it? How are the stress levels (I already work at a very stressful part time job during school, and if I go into surgery I'm sure that's not stress free either icon_smile.gif I think I'm prepared for stress) "

I like what I do. I do research and clinical work at an academic medical center. Stress is a personal thing. I don't find my job very stressful, though I do work long hours.

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